4 replies to this topic

[WardenWolf]

There appears to be a lot of concern out there around the Phase 1-3 implementation of matchmaker that is being worked on, and of which Phase 2 starts tomorrow. Concerns I have seen include the lack of options for groups of 5-7 players, concern that new players / trial mechs aren't properly being addressed, and more. I have been thinking a lot about this topic because of both the forums and the merc company I'm in, and wanted to put forward the following as much recommendation:

When a group or player enters the queue, they would be classified as one of the following:

- Full 8-man team
- Partial team (2-7 players)
- Lone wolf
- New player (if in a trial mech and under a certain number of games played)

Full teams of 8 would only be matched against eachother, that is easy.

Partial teams would be combined with a second team, if possible, and then matched against another pair of partial teams. 8 players per side would be the goal here (4+4, 5+3, 6+2) but for teams of 7 players an opposing pair of teams making up 8 total would be considered a fair match as well. The team with 7 would be a mech down, but would also have an advantage in that they could all be organized together vs two smaller organized groups.

Lone wolves would only ever play in matches that were full of lone wolves - no teams allowed. A possible exception could be made for pairs, depending on how the matchmaker ended up doing on game availability. Definite no more than pairs, an no more than one pair per team.

New players - those in trial mechs with under a certain number of games played, and not in a group - would only be matched against other trial mech players for a certain number of games. Experienced players in trial mechs would have a chance of dropping in such matches, or a chance of dropping in the normal lone wolf queue. The idea here is to mix in some players who have a little more experience, to help teach newbies (though an in-game tutorial is really needed for this) and to prevent the queue from being a bottleneck where new players get stuck because there aren't enough similar opponents. There would be a mechanism in place to prevent more than a couple of experienced players per side, though; certainly no more than half of each team - and evenly spread between the two sides.

A lot of this could also be expanded when 12v12 gets added to the game, which I hope is sooner rather than later. It may or may not be applicable once Community Warfare is set up, though, depending on how exactly that is done.

So, what do you guys in the community think?

[Túatha Dé Danann]

Hmm, the basic ideas are nice, but the grouping should be a little more refined.

We shoudl introduce some game-modes the player can click on. So, if the player wants to participate as a lone wolf in a 8 vs 8 with groups, he can call that option. Like this example, players who are not in a group can click on all the games they might get into.

Like:
- One or two lone wolf players in a group of 6 or 7 organized players who play against at least 6, but up to 8 enemy organized people
- matches, where everyone is a lone wolf
- matches, where everyone is a lone wolf except one small group (max 2 or 3) one every side
- matches with at least 4 players on every side which are grouped

Of course, smaller and larger groups can also click on those options to enable or disable certain outcomes.

One thing that would be nice is a colorcode on the entrance-loading screen. Everyone in a group gets a group color, so that everyone knows, who is in a group and who is a lone wolf. If two groups in one team are playing with each other, they get different colors.

Lone wolves: white
First group: blue
Second group: green
Third group: yellow

The enemy team can also be seen, if they are grouped, but they get different kinds of reds.
Remember, those colors can only be seen in the team-overview. The map-colors will stay the same with blue and red for friends and foes.

Another good option could be a direct invitation. If two teams communicate on teamspeak, one 8 men group can invite another 8 men group via the invite button. A new table will open with all own players on the left and all enemy players on the right. If the first group leader hits launch-ready and the enemy group leader hits launch-ready, both teams will launch.

Another implementation for future groups could be clan vs. non-clan.
If any team member will use clan tech, the whole group will be called "clan". It is enought to have a single piece of equipment. This way, one group will have to focus on IS-tech, while the other group that might want to play clan can play pure clan. No mixture.

8 IS mechs can fight against 5 clan mechs. This means, if one of your teammates got clan tech, your maximum group-number is 5.

Another option can be, that you fight with 8 clan mechs against 12 IS-mechs. While those numbers may seem odd (not full two stars) it is balanced as well and groups of 8 men can still stick together.

That said, also 5 vs 5 and 10 vs 10 clan mechs should be possible as well.

My 2 cents

[Regrets]

My take,

Have some kind of interface before you enter queue, I'll call it the Mercenary Review Board (MRB). Have the following choices of contracts in the MRB:

- Bronze Contract: Can only be chosen by pilots piloting a Trial Mechs. Pay: 25k Credits + ingame bonuses
- Silver Contract: Can not be queued as a member of a team. Any mech (including Trial Mechs) can queue. Pay: 50k + ingame bonuses
- Gold Contract: Can be queued by individuals or as a member of a team. Any non-trial mech can queue. Pay: 100k + bonuses
- Platinum Contract: Can only be queued as a member of a two lance (8 Mech) team. Pay: 150k + ingame bonuses.

This way... you don't get smashed by teamers constantly in Silver Queue, as well, if a noob wants to queue for the Bronze queue while they are learning, this is fine.

Gold queue... things are getting more structured here, if you queue in gold, prepare to get your butt kicked. Note, if you queue silver and win instead queuing Gold and losing, you will end up with more total cbills Silver+Win. This is the incentive to play a queue you can win.

Platinum, obv if you queue here this is designed for team fights. Please provide some sort of ranking system for things to be more competitive.

Obviously all the numbers are up for interpretation, but I'm just trying to get the basic idea across. I suppose maybe Silver and Bronze could be merged together. Hope you like my idea!

Edited by Regrets, 03 December 2012 - 07:48 PM.

[WardenWolf]

Hi Regrets - congrats on your first post

I think your idea of contracts and such is definitely interesting, and it could fit in well with Community Warfare when that gets implemented... but details are so scarce on it, as it is still in early development, that we'll have to see how it shapes up. I also worry about individual players complaining that teams make more money because their tiers are better rewarded - but that could be mitigated.

Shevchen - Your ideas were also interesting, especially being able to see who is teamed up with who from the launch window. That could help folks better organize themselves, certainly! I'm not sure about the idea of having individuals drop with groups, though: that has led to a lot of frustration now, but I suppose if it was purely opt-in it could make sense.

My biggest concerns are that the matchmaking be more flexible and fair, while also making the match-up process still happen quickly. Too detailed or complex of a setup would result in longer queue times, which could turn off parts of the community. Thank you for the feedback and additional ideas, though!

[Regrets]

I agree. The worst think at the moment is teamers. I'm sure its not a high priority for lots, but they either don't realize 1/2 their losses are versus a team, or the are on a team themselves and don't see the problem. I have played a lot of pvp games, and the worst are the ones where it is constantly a pub stomp. It is not challenging for the winning team, and once the losing team starts to realize what is going it it brings on mad nerd rage.

Re: teams being more rewarded , I guess I think it would make the game a lot better if there was some sort of rated queue that pulls out the teams because getting stomped 8 trial/new mechs versus a coordinated team with raven emc, 2 lrm boats, jumping jenner scout, 2 med/heavy brawlers and 2 brawl/ranged assaults is going to be a butt kicking every time.